The backbone of this set of materials is formed by a series of brief, annotated essays on such familiar but important topics as "Legal Realism," the "Legal Process" school, the "Law and Society" movement, "Law and Economics," "Law and Political Philosophy," and "Critical Theory." Other essays and interactive modules show how those theoretical traditions illuminate various specific doctrinal topics, such as the legal status of assisted suicide, the choice between negligence and strict-liability standards in torts, the "Baby M" case, the "takings" doctrine, and the rules of intellectual property. Various exercises, deigned to engage students in the materials and to enable them to test their comprehension are scattered through the modules. In addition, we have included germane excerpts of interviews we conducted with judges and leading scholars.

Navigational help

A master menu appears to the left of every page in the Bridge (including this one). Click on the red triangles to the left of each broad topic to "open" a menu and reveal the various choices that are within it. Many pages will also show left or right arrows beneath the list of menu choices; these are used to navigate to the next and previous items in a given sequence of pages.